Monthly News Archives: February 2013

BROWNWOOD – February 28, 2013 – The Howard Payne University Department of Theatre will present its first spring production, “Stealing Home,” in several performances Thursday, Feb. 28, through Monday, March 4. The final performance of the show will open the Christian University Theatre Festival, held March 4-6, in which HPU will host acting companies from Hardin-Simmons University, Lubbock Christian University and Wayland Baptist University.

The Christian University Theatre Festival was created approximately 20 years ago by the theatre directors from HPU, Hardin-Simmons and Wayland Baptist as a means to come together to share their art and love of theatre in a Christian setting.

“Our students forge friendships which begin at CUTF and last for many years,” said Dr. Nancy Jo Humfeld, head of the HPU theatre department. “As professors and students, it is fun to see the same folks in different roles through the years of attending CUTF.”

“Stealing Home” is a comedy about two thieves, Cecil and Pug, who get more than anticipated when they accidentally break into a funeral home. Cast members include Gabi Guest, a sophomore from Midlothian; Tucker Hull, a junior from Brownwood; Hannah Jansen, a sophomore from Erie, Colo.; Brittany Martin, a sophomore from Goldthwaite; Ben Mohundro, a freshman from Frisco; Jared Russell, a junior from Hillsboro; Phoenix Solis, a senior from Brownwood; Alex Taliaferro, a sophomore from Haslet; Dorie Walton, a sophomore from Lolita; Jarrod White, a junior from Ben Wheeler; and Kelsan Wolverton, a sophomore from Lampasas.

Performances of “Stealing Home” will be February 28, March 1, March 2 and March 4 at 7:30 p.m. and March 3 at 2:30 p.m. Wayland Baptist University will present its production of David Mamet’s “The Water Engine” on Tuesday, March 5, at 1:00 p.m. Lubbock Christian University’s production of “Shadowlands,” the story of C.S. Lewis and his marriage to Joy Davidman Gresham, will be Tuesday evening at 8:00 p.m. The final performance will be Hardin-Simmons’ production of “Red,” a story about artist Mark Rothko, Wednesday, March 6, at 1:00 p.m.

All performances will be at the HPU Theatre. Tickets for CUTF shows are $5.00 per show, with the exception of HPU’s performance of “Stealing Home” which will be free to HPU faculty, staff and students.

For more information, or to purchase tickets, call the box office at (325) 649-8516.

“We encourage everyone to join us for these wonderful plays that encompass a broad range of theatre genres,” Humfeld said. “What a treat to be able to see four plays in little more than 48 hours! The quality of the shows is always stellar and it is nice to know that they will all be true to our university’s Christian mission.”

BROWNWOOD – February 27, 2013 – Howard Payne University students will perform in the annual Spring Sing event on Friday and Saturday, March 1-2, at 7:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively, in Mims Auditorium.

This year’s theme is “Once Upon a Time” and each participating group will perform a 12-minute original musical sketch incorporating pieces from fantastic stories and fairy tales. Student organizations participating in this year’s event include Chi Alpha Omega, Delta Chi Rho, Iota Chi Alpha and Sigma Theta Phi.

Spring Sing is a popular event on the HPU campus, drawing audiences of students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the community. Tickets are $4 for HPU students, $6 for non-students and $8 for reserved seating, and can be purchased at the Cashier’s Office (room 203 of HPU’s Packer Administration Building) or during lunch in the Mabee University Center. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the door on the evenings of the event.

A Spring Sing student committee, chaired by Lara Hernandez, a junior from Brownwood, and Haley Jones, a junior from Terrell, is coordinating this year’s production. Staff advisers include Nancy Pryor, resident director; Jake Sneath, resident director; Tyler Sellers, associate dean of students and director of student activities; and Dr. Brent Marsh, vice president for student life and dean of students.

“The students have put a lot of hard work into their performances,” Sneath said. “We are excited to welcome the community to this event to get a glimpse of the fun student life at HPU.”

BROWNWOOD – February 27, 2013 – Howard Payne University New Braunfels Center invites all who are planning to enroll in undergraduate classes at New Braunfels – or those who are just interested in learning more about the university – to attend an HPU Preview Night at New Braunfels High School. These Monday-evening sessions are scheduled for March 4, April 1 and May 6 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Check-in for the preview events will begin at 6 p.m.

Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from HPU professors in the bachelor’s degree programs and learn about the future plans of the HPU New Braunfels Center. Each prospective student who registers for the event at www.hputx.edu/newbraunfels will also receive a free HPU t-shirt. There is no cost to attend a preview night and participants are invited to bring their families.

“We are excited to welcome even more students from the New Braunfels area into the HPU family,” said Christy Meinecke, admission counselor for the New Braunfels Center.

Christy and her husband, Dale, who serves as assistant vice president for external programs and church relations at HPU, live and work full-time in New Braunfels.

“We’ve loved getting to know this area of Texas and have especially enjoyed meeting the people who make New Braunfels such a special community,” she said. “HPU is our passion and we find great joy in introducing more people to the university every day.”

New Braunfels High School is located at 2551 Loop 337, New Braunfels, TX, 78130.

To register for an HPU Preview Night or to learn more about the HPU New Braunfels Center, visit www.hputx.edu/newbraunfels. For more information, contact Christy Meinecke at (325) 649-8833 or via e-mail at cmeinecke@hputx.edu.

BROWNWOOD – February 22, 2013 – Several Howard Payne University faculty and staff members wore red on Friday in support of the American Heart Association’s “Go Red for Women” campaign for heart health awareness.

Pictured are (back row) Dr. Julie Welker, professor of communication; Susan Sharp, administrative assistant and certification officer for the School of Education; Mary Hill, administrative assistant for the School of Business; and Gretchen Campbell, student accounts coordinator. The front row, from left, includes Diane Hackney, administrative assistant for the School of Science and Mathematics; Tammy Dake, custodian; Kim Bryant, associate professor of communication; Nikki Donathan, cashier; and Kim Rosato, instructor of exercise and sport science.

Morris spent several years as President Ronald Reagan’s official biographer and is the author of The New York Times bestseller Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan.

Morris described Reagan as reserved in one-on-one situations and animated in front of a crowd. He went on to call Reagan a “consummate actor” with a strong moral code.

The speaker also noted the parallels between the presidencies of Reagan and Theodore Roosevelt, whom he also considered a great showman. Morris’ book The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, the first in a trilogy, won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award.

“It was a great privilege to have a prominent historian of Mr. Morris’ stature address Howard Payne University students, faculty and staff, as well as area high school students,” said Dr. Justin D. Murphy, Brand professor of history, dean of the School of Humanities and director of HPU’s Academy of Freedom honors program. “This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event that will be remembered by all.”

A frequent guest commentator on television and radio programs, Morris was born and educated in Kenya and immigrated to the United States in 1968. He has authored several books throughout his career and extensively written on the topics of literature and music for such publications as The New Yorker, The New York Times and Harper’s Magazine. His television appearances include a two-part profile segment on 60 Minutes. Among other elite venues, he has lectured at Harvard, Princeton and Brown universities.

In addition to HPU students, approximately 100 students and sponsors from local and area high schools were in attendance. Students represented Brownwood, Dublin Premier, Granbury, Lampasas, Panther Creek and Richland Spring high schools and Brownwood’s Victory Life Academy. Prospective Academy of Freedom students from around the state were also in attendance. These high school students and HPU’s Academy of Freedom students received complimentary, autographed copies of Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan and attended a luncheon before the lecture.

“Howard Payne was thrilled to give these students the opportunity to interact with Mr. Morris,” said Kevin Kirk, associate vice president for enrollment management. “This experience allowed the students to see the level of world-class educational opportunities that are available at HPU.”

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Photo cutlines: Edmund Morris discusses the presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan at a lecture held on the HPU campus.

Edmund Morris signs a copy of his book Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan for HPU Academy of Freedom student Lauraleticia Alvarado of Early.

Howard Payne University’s New Braunfels Center Master of Business Administration program began January 14 with seven total students. Two more students are currently enrolled to begin during later terms.

“Momentum for the MBA in New Braunfels is picking up speed,” said Dale Meinecke, assistant vice president for external programs and church relations and director of the New Braunfels Center. “At nearly every event and meeting I attend in the community, someone tells me that they or someone they know is planning to begin the program.”

BROWNWOOD – February 5, 2013 – Howard Payne University will host the sixth annual Currie-Strickland Distinguished Lectures in Christian Ethics on Thursday, February 28, and Friday, March 1. Anyone interested in theology and Christian issues is encouraged to attend this free lecture series. Reservations are requested.

Dr. Jeph Holloway, professor of theology and ethics at East Texas Baptist University, will present discussions on “The Practice of Christian Moral Discernment.”

“We are looking forward to Dr. Holloway’s lectures,” said Dr. Donnie Auvenshine, dean of HPU’s School of Christian Studies. “I believe that he will provoke us to think carefully about living out our commitment to Christ.”

Dr. Holloway holds Master of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, focusing in the field of Christian ethics. He has also done additional graduate study at Duke University and Columbia Theological Seminary. Since 1990, he has served Baptist institutions of higher learning at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Since 1978, his ministry experiences have included serving in the positions of youth minister, assistant pastor, interim pastor and pastor.

Dr. Holloway’s academic contributions include 17 publications and presentations. He has been featured in publications such as Christian Ethics Today, Southwestern Journal of Theology and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Thursday’s lecture, “Deciding Against Decisionism: There’s Just More to It than That” will begin at 7:30 p.m. The following day at 10 a.m., Dr. Holloway will present “The Juncture of Mind and Spirit: Moral Discernment in the Letters of Paul.” Each lecture will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

The Currie-Strickland lecture series is made possible through the generosity of Dr. and Mrs. Gary Elliston and was established to honor the life of Dr. David R. Currie, retired executive director of Texas Baptists Committed, and the memory of Phil Strickland, who dedicated nearly 40 years of ministry to the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ Christian Life Commission.

Both lectures will take place in the Richard and Wanda Jackson Conference Room of the university’s Paul and Jane Meyer Faith and Life Leadership Center. To reserve a seat at the lectures, please contact HPU’s Office of University Marketing and Communications by e-mail at currie-strickland@hputx.edu or by phone at 325-649-8009.

Operating in the nation’s capital, the Christian Legal Society is, according to its website, “a growing nationwide fellowship of Christian lawyers and law students who act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God.”

Adopting Micah 6:8 as its corporate vision, it exists “to inspire, encourage, and equip Christian lawyers and law students both individually and in community to proclaim, love and serve Jesus Christ through the study and practice of law, the provision of legal assistance to the poor and needy, and the defense of the inalienable rights to life and religious freedom.”

The group supports chapters in major cities, in many law schools and on some undergraduate campuses for pre-law groups.

Balkum’s audience included attorneys in private practice, ministerial staff and appellate judges. His address focused on the ethical and spiritual dilemmas faced by attorneys called on to represent their own churches, creating a dynamic known as a “dual relationship.”

While Balkum, author of Sheep Among Wolves: Texas Churches and the Law, stressed that all believers have a duty to support their churches, there are times when an attorney’s ethical obligations may conflict with his or her spiritual obligations. This particularly can occur over issues of confidentiality and when the parties involved have different expectations of an attorney’s role.

“That conflict also can arise even over rather mundane matters in which church members harbor hard feelings for the manner in which the attorney’s legal opinion happens to fall,” he said.

Balkum recounted one instance in which he was serving on his church’s missions committee and a committee member loudly blamed the church’s lawyers for scrapping a mission project which she supported.

“These situations can create problems for the attorney’s family, as well,” he said. “A solution is for Christian attorneys to be more proactive in developing referral networks to assist each other and sister churches in those times when representation is necessary. Such networks can bring much needed independence, formality, clarity and objectivity, in the form of an outsider looking in, to sometimes emotionally charged situations.

“That simple referral can keep the member attorney from becoming a lightning rod and, in so doing, safeguard his and his family’s more important roles as members of that congregation.”

Lynn Humeniuk, director of HPU’s criminal justice program and associate professor of sociology, calls Balkum a “blessing to the university.”

“He lives out his faith in his professional law practice as well as in his interactions with our HPU students.”